By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Eight awards will be presented Thursday to people who have honored Westport’s history by preserving or rehabilitating their properties.

The 2025 Historic District Commission Preservation Awards will be handed out at a Town Hall ceremony set for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 1.

The awards recognize owners who have taken steps to preserve, rehabilitate or adapt the historic character and traditions of their properties.

The Mill, a condominium complex at 41 Richmondville Ave., won the commission’s “Adaptive Reuse Award.” Originally a factory that processed cotton, wool twine and carpet warp in the early 19th Century, according to the Historic District Commission records, the factory closed in 1954. It was acquired in the 1950s by hardware store owner Nat Greenberg and lawyer Leo Nevas to house artists’ studios. Current owners Sam Gault and Joe Feinleib are cited for the building’s conversion into luxury residences while maintaining the building’s historic character.

An award for rehabilitating a house and barn at 48-50 Treadwell Ave. will be presented to owners Sam Carpenter and Sharon O’Shea. The “Rehabilitation Preservation Award” recognizes their renovation of the Fannie Brundage House, built in 1912, and its barn. The house was remodeled in 2023, according to the commission, and the barn rebuilt for use as an accessory dwelling, while respecting the buildings’ legacy.

Another structure recognized with a “Rehabilitation Preservation Award” is 208 Compo Road South, owned by Juan Sanchez and Rebecca Fadden. It is one of several houses originally owned by the Bennett family, among the early settlers of Westport. According to commission notes, the house was restored and expanded in 2024 by Elayne and Rachel Landau of the Further Afield company.

A “Preservation Award” will go to Matthew Rush Jr. “in honor of his care for [an] important piece of Westport’s history” —  the Aaron Adams/Ralph Boyer House, 112 Easton Road, built for Adams in 1853. Artist Ralph Boyer and his wife Rebecca purchased the house in 1923, which became one of many homes owned by artists in the area, and his studio remains on the property. Boyer’s artwork hangs in Westport’s central fire station, according to the HDC.

Four property owners will be honored with “Excellence in Ongoing Care and Maintenance Preservation Awards” this year.

Mark Jacobs is cited for more than 20 years of preservation and maintenance of the John and Adelaide Nichols Baker House, 78 Clinton Ave., which was designed by Minerva Parker Nichols, the first woman in the U.S. to practice architecture independently in the 1920s, according to the Historic District Commission.

Adam Federman and Maria Luvera also will receive the award for the house at 35 Clinton Ave., known as the Fillow-Sniffen House. Built circa 1850, it became known as the home of James Banks, who started the Fillow Flower Co. and patented a large blossom pansy, according to HDC records.

Another historic maintenance award recognizes a two-story Colonial Revival at 10 Prospect Road, owned by Ronald Mele and Noele Jordan Mele. The property was once owned by New York State Supreme Court Judge Josiah Maren who, in partnership with John Harding of the Daybreak Nursery in Westport, created a formally landscaped estate, famous for the dahlias they developed, according to the HDC.

Also honored with a historic maintenance award is a Regency Revival brick home at 2 Weston Road, owned by Sarah and Patrick Kennedy. The home was built in 1938 by Leendert Verkuil, a jeweler and diamond cutter who emigrated from Holland in the 1920s. The current owners have “lovingly cared for this home for 40 years,” according to the HDC.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.